Single-piece tweezers

Abstract

A means and method for forming tweezers and tweezers handles out of a single piece of material. The tweezers consist of unitary body including two parallel spaced apart arms which extend from an integrally formed heel end portion The ends of the arms opposite the heel end portion comprise tweezer tips or can be connected to replaceable tweezer tips. In a preferred embodiment, the single piece tweezers are produced by electrical discharge machine process which produces very accurate and precise cuts.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A single-piece tweezers body means comprising: a unitary body member including a heel end portion and first and second generally parallel, elongated, spaced apart arm portions, each having first and second corresponding ends, and facing surfaces between the ends, said arm portions formed integrally with the heel end portion at said first ends, said unitary body member being comprised of one piece of high tensile strength, rigid yet resilient material;   said arm portions being comprised of rear sections generally thin, elongate, and flat with respect to the facing surfaces of the arm portions having a thin cross-section and extending from the heel end portion to handle sections,   the handle sections also being generally elongate and flat but of thicker cross-section than the rear sections, the handle sections extending to working end sections which are elongate and thin in width and length and narrower in cross-section than the handle sections;   said arms diverging slightly away from one another at or around the junction of the rear and handle sections, and converging slightly at or around the junction of the handle and working end sections; and   protrusions extending perpendicularly from the inner-facing surfaces of the handle sections of the arm portions which come into abutment upon closing the tweezers body means to serve as stops to prevent gapping of the working end sections of the arm portions of the tweezers body means.   
     
     
       2. The device of claim 1 wherein said unitary body is formed by cutting said body from a single piece of material by electrical discharge machine process. 
     
     
       3. The device of claim 2 wherein said electrical discharge machine process utilizes a traveling wire for cutting the material. 
     
     
       4. The device of claim 1 wherein said arms are cut so as to have a gap between at least a portion of the arms. 
     
     
       5. The device of claim 1 wherein said gripping arms are forceably bent apart to produce a spring bias so that the gripping arms are normally in an open, spaced apart position. 
     
     
       6. The device of claim 1 wherein said tweezers comprise surgical tweezers. 
     
     
       7. The device of claim 1 wherein said arms comprise handle portions adjacent to and extending from the heel end portion, and gripping portions extending from the handle portions. 
     
     
       8. The device of claim 1 wherein said arms comprise handle portions having first ends adjacent to and extending from the heel end portion, and having second ends which are attachable to replaceable gripping tips. 
     
     
       9. The device of claim 8 wherein the gripping tips are made from the same material as the unitary body member. 
     
     
       10. The device of claim 1 wherein the working end sections are generally aligned with the longitudinal axes of the first and second arm portions. 
     
     
       11. The device of claim 7 wherein the working end sections of the arm portions extend so that the gripping sections are offset from the general longitudinal axis of the first and second arm portions. 
     
     
       12. The device of claim 8 wherein the replaceable gripping sections are made of material having at least closely similar properties as the material of the arm portions, and which have key means which are frictionally fittable into slot means in the working end sections of the arm portions. 
     
     
       13. The device of claim 7 wherein said gripping sections include inwardly extending raised members forming gripping areas. 
     
     
       14. A method for producing one-piece tweezers body means comprising the steps of: cutting a unitary body member from a single piece of high tensile strength, rigid yet resilient material, said body member including first and second generally parallel, elongated spaced apart arm portions, each having first and second ends, said arm portions formed integrally with a heel end portion, the second ends of the arm portions opposite the heel end portion comprising working end sections of the body member;   said arm portions being cut so as to have rear sections generally thin elongate and flat with respect to innerfacing surfaces of the arm portions and having a thin cross-section and extending from the heel end portion to handle sections, the handle sections also being elongated and flat but of thicker cross-section, the handle sections extending to the working end sections which are elongated and thin in width and length and narrower in cross-section than the handle sections;   bending said arm portions so that said first and second arm portions diverge slightly away from one another at or around the junction of the rear and handle sections;   cutting said arm portions so that they converge slightly at or around the juction of the handle and working end sections.   
     
     
       15. The method of claim 14 wherein the material is cut by electrical discharge machine process. 
     
     
       16. The method of claim 15 wherein the electrical discharge machine process uses a traveling wire for cutting the material. 
     
     
       17. The method of claim 14 wherein said tweezers comprise surgical tweezers. 
     
     
       18. The method of claim 14 wherein said working end portions are cut so as to extend to an offset position from the longitudinal axis of the gripping arms. 
     
     
       19. The method of claim 14 wherein the working end portions and tweezer tips are made from the same material as the remaining portions of the gripping arms, and are separable from those remaining portions by having key members which are frictionally fittable into slot members in the handle portions of the gripping arms. 
     
     
       20. The method of claim 14 wherein the working end sections include a gripping section. 
     
     
       21. The method of claim 14 wherein the working end sections are adapted to receive a removable gripping section.